Standard English dictionaries define ”hospitality” as “the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers”.  In the modern world, the term seems to have completely lost it is original meaning. For many, it is no longer a discipline, but a profitable business. Hosting grand parties or arranging for luncheon/dinner is only considered being “hospitable” these days. In fact, there is a full-fledged industry, which facilitates the process using standard methodologies leaving little or no burden on the “actual” hosts.

In ancient times, hospitality used to be a sheer responsibility or an ethic any couple in family life dutifully cherished. It was even believed that serving food to guests (and those in need) and taking good care of them is a means of attaining mukti. Besides inculcating moral values, parents of older generations taught their children how to extend welcome to the guests, how to be nice to them, how to behave and be respectful to them.

The other day,  I visited a family friend who more or less belongs to my age group. After the customary talks,  as I intended to take leave, my friend said “Why don’t you have some coffee/tea”?”. It is not just me, for anyone the very question at this particular juncture would be very humiliating.  Unfortunately, for most people, this is what is hospitality is all about. 

The fact that only a handful of children of this generation know the meaning of ”hospitality” and practise it in life is quite saddening.  Parents are the primary role models of their kids and it is in their scope to instill such values in them. I, as a toddler, was always told to greet the invitee with a warm smile, even though he or she at that particular moment was an absolute stranger to me.  Now that I have grown into an adult, I seem to completely understand the WHYs of my parents’ instructions. :)

While it is true that, with the changing times, personal safety is fast becoming a question and you are required to be more alert and watchful all the time, it is not all that possible to jubiliantly greet some “stranger” who is at your doorway.  But if  you are the “daring” type and risk yourself to do so, chances are you are featured in the newspaper headlines the next morning. ;)

On a serious note, people of the modern age must realize that true and well-managed hospitality makes one feel so good and important. They must try to be hospitable at least to their friends, relatives, and all those they very well know.  I bet it is not so difficult to bring again into practice “Atithi Devo Bhava” (The guest is god), which had been the tradition in many countries in the world for centuries.

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